Break seals are used in laboratories as seals for containers. The seals are placed in the neck of a container, leading to a hermetic seal in the bottle. Break seals are often used with hazardous chemicals in order to reduce the chance of exposure to hazardous chemicals. Break seals can also be used to decrease the chance of chemical spillage before the seal is broken. Break seals can further be used with sterilized fittings to prevent contamination, particularly with biological contaminants.
Break seals currently available have a number of drawbacks, such as being expensive and complicated to manufacture and being physically weak such that the seal breaks before a desired time. Other seals are made with adhesives that can leach into fluids within the container, contaminating the fluids.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.